"Rose Covered Glasses" is a serious essay, satire and photo-poetry commentary from a group of US Military Veterans in Minnesota.
See Right Margin for Table of Contents and Free Book Downloads via "Box"

Thursday, December 01, 2016

“Veterans are 45 percent more likely than non-veterans to start a small business.Today, veterans own 2.52 million small businesses — nearly 1 in every
10 — while employing 6 million Americans and generating $1.14 trillion
in receipts.

Veteran-owned small businesses have always been a pillar of America’s economy, but they are in a generational decline.

More than 1.1 million veteran business owners are over the age of 65,
and in 2014, only 4.5 percent of Post-9/11 veterans started a business,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
When considering that nearly half of World War II veterans and 40
percent of Korean War veterans started businesses, the differences are
stark.

As an estimated 200,000 service members transition from the military
every year, the Small Business Administration knows how imperative it is
to connect service members, veterans and military spouses with the
tools and resources they need to become business owners — and what the
nation risks losing if they don’t.

Starting a successful small business is a tough mission. It requires
tenacity, discipline and adaptability — all character traits found in a
veteran, alongside many other skills. But being your own boss doesn’t
mean going it alone.

Transitioning service members and veterans need ready access to
business assistance services, resource networks, capital and market
opportunities to ensure success. Empowering and regenerating America’s
veteran entrepreneurs is one way to help reverse our declining trends in
entrepreneurship while also facilitating the economic revitalization of
small towns and rural America.

The SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development works to formulate,
implement and promote policies and programs that equip members of the
military community with counseling, training and education, as well as
access to capital to start their own businesses and assist them with
contracting opportunities.

Since 2013, 50,000 transitioning service
members and military spouses have participated in the Boots to Business
program as part of the Defense Department’s Transition Assistance
Program. B2B provided — for the first time since World War II — a
strong, visible pipeline of potential veteran business owners.

Boots to Business provides free entrepreneurship training in more
than 200 military installations and military communities. Graduates of
these programs are 53 percent more likely to start a business, and 91
percent are still in business after a year, according to the Institute
for Veterans and Military Families.

Surveys of Post 9/11-era veterans show as many as 25 percent would
like to own a business after leaving service. However, lack of seed
capital can be a challenge. There are no grants for veteran-owned
businesses, traditional SBA lending programs are not for new businesses
and the SBA’s micro-lending intermediaries do not focus on veterans,
leaving veteran entrepreneurs more likely than nonveterans to rely on
personal savings and credit cards to fund their businesses.

Seeking to bridge the seed capital gap, Congress proposed the
Veterans Entrepreneurial Transition, or VET, Act of 2016. It proposes an
SBA program that would evaluate the use of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits
as seed capital for starting a new business, similar to the World War II
era-GI Bill, connecting B2B and other technical assistance programs to
GI Bill grants by leveraging existing SBA infrastructure and
administration.

The SBA activates the entrepreneurial potential of military and
veteran entrepreneurs. Recognized through the SBA’s annual celebration
during National Veterans Small Business Week and beyond, generations of
these brave women and men have answered the call to start their own
small businesses. The Post-9/11 era of veterans represents the next
great generation to continue this legacy of success.”

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About Me

2 Tours in US Army Vietnam.
Retired from 36 Years in the Defense Industrial Complex after working on 25 major weapons systems, many of which are in use today in the Middle East.
Volunteer MicroMentor. I specialize in Small, Veteran-owned, Minority-Owned and Woman-Owned Businesses beginning work for the Federal Government.
MicroMentor is a non-profit organization offering free assistance to small business in business planning, operations, marketing and other aspects of starting and successfully operating a small enterprise.
You can set up a case with me at MicroMentor by going to:
http://www.micromentor.org/
key words: "Federal Government Contracting"

The Colors of Hastings

EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE

My gratitude to the person or persons who sent to me a new Sony Cybershot DSC-H90 Camera.There was no return address or acknowledgment of the kindness, other than a one sentence, typewritten note that read:

"For all that you do for others"

I am very grateful and will put the marvelous precision instrument to good use - Ken